I’m not sure when the "psychic supergirl" trope as we know it today was first conceived. I reckon one might trace it to Jean Grey/Marvel Girl/Phoenix of X-Men fame, but I'm always open to better/earlier examples.
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Either way, it’s worth noting that the original novel of The Fury and the movie adaption of Carrie both came out the same year that Elizabeth Fraser turned 13: The Fury four months before, and Carrie four months after.
Salient Secret Sunnery:
- The Amy Irving character in The Fury is named "Gillian."
- In the novel, Gillian claims to be a "psychic twin" with "Robin," played by Andrew Stevens, who was born in Memphis.
- Also, Gillian drowns her oppressor in the novel, whereas she blows him up in the movie, a scene which was replayed in the final episode of the real Stranger Things.
Anyhow, King went back to the psychic supergirl trope-well with Firestarter in 1980, a novel which has also a heavy MKULTRA component to it, as does The Fury. Both of which ultimately gave birth to Stranger Things' Eleven, and the rest is history.
But in between Carrie and Eleven was "Ace," the psychic supergirl of the DC Animated Universe.
I’d totally forgotten about Ace until I happened upon this video. It’s an incredibly poignant set piece and comes from an episode of Justice League Unlimited called “Epilogue.”
As you can see, Ace’s powers have basically evolved into a version of the Shimmer, as she begins overwriting reality with her mind. As we also see, she’s also a victim of "Project Cadmus," the DCAU’s version of MKULTRA et al.
Cadmus being a name that harkens back to Lucifer’s Technologies, incidentally.
Significantly, Ace's "cheated out of my childhood" line reminds us of a statement Elizabeth Fraser made in 1994:
"I lost my right to be a child. I lost the rights over my own body.
Do you know how devastating that is to the psyche?"
Indeed.
Be that as it may, "Epilogue" is basically a glorified Batman Beyond story, with Terry McGuiness confronting Project Cadmus head Amanda Waller when he finally realizes that he is actually Bruce Wayne’s biological son.
Huh, a long-lost child confronting a biological parent sounds awfully familiar, no? Well, it does to the Initiates.
And since it could be no other way, the actor voicing Terry was born the fateful month Elizabeth turned 13. I’d like to tell you more about the episode, but for some reason my DVD of it won’t play.
But one thing I can tell you…
… the actress voicing Amanda Waller here is very much part of our Elizexegesis, having played Special Agent Lucy Kazdin in “Duane Barry.”
And the second part of that storyline is “Ascension,” which uses Nick Cave music to give us yet another indelible link between the Sibyl and Gillizabeth Anderfrase.
EL-ACE-ABETH
"Ace" is more a title than a name in the overall DC Universe, and an Ace character in the form of an adult male android appears in the Royal Flush Gang’s DCAU debut:
The first incarnation appears in Batman Beyond, with King voiced by George Lazenby, Queen by Amanda Donohoe in season one and Sarah Douglas in all subsequent appearances, their son Jack by Scott Cleverdon in season one and Nicholas Guest in season three...
Don’t forget that Amanda Donohoe costarred with Peter Capaldi in Lair of the White Worm, giving us yet another direct hit to the Sibyl. Quite a few direct hits to be found in all this, weirdly.
So, we first met El-Ace-abeth in the DCAU in a two-part Justice League storyline called “Wild Cards.” I don’t even know how to possibly preface all of this improbability, so just read this:
Ace was born with a psychic power that affected even her parents. She would leave people in a comatose state while they had hallucinations.
As a little girl she was taken away to a secret base and trained. She was forced to use her powers in a hope that she could be used as a weapon in case the Justice League ever went rogue.
She became depressed and was susceptible to the Joker's manipulation when he broke her out of the installation as a teenager.
He used her in a plot to defeat the Justice League and put everyone that was watching television into a hypnotic state as she used her powers live on television.
The bit about Ace putting people into a hypnotic state reminds me of when Prince once famously said that Elizabeth's vocal harmonies "put you into a dreamlike state." Just between you and me, that's not even the half of it,.
Anyway, three guesses where this story takes place, and the first two don't count...
That's right: Las Vegas. Where else?
And only because reality has gone totally Shimmered, the plotline of “Wild Cards” shares a central trope in common with “The Frodis Caper,” the final episode of The Monkees on which Tim Buckley premiered “Song to the Siren.”
What's that saying about " it's never-ending" or something, again? Refresh my memory here.
Just in case you may have suspected a creepy sexual/molesty undertone to Ace and the Joker’s relationship -- meaning a creepy/molesty relationship between the young psychic girl and the Comedian -- it's not your imagination.
In fact, the writers drive it home by bringing Harley Quinn in to act as the jealous/spurned lover.
Gosh, whadya reckon that's all about? Kinda makes you wonder if Ace's little dolly is meant to symbolize something else. Maybe even someone else. And what's up with the balloons? Is it someone's birthday?
I guess we'll never know.
But given the timeline, you might wonder if the aforementioned untoward relationship pushed Ace’s reality-warping powers into overdrive, as we see in “Epilogue.”
I guess we'll never know that either. Well, not in this reality at least.
Of course, the Joker was voiced by Mark Hamill, seen here getting his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Wait: let’s just zoom in a bit here…
…yeah, I thought that t-shirt looked familiar.
Finally, I should point out that Project Cadmus was originally created by Jack Kirby, who…
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